NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than September 2025 for the launch of the agency’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) spacecraft. The new date provides additional time for IMAP flight systems preparations prior to launch.
NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are looking at a likely launch date in March 2025 for the NISAR satellite. Short for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, NISAR will scan nearly all of Earth’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days to measure changes in the planet’s ecosystems, its land and sea ice, …
The breeze across the California desert kicks up some dust and sand. As a NASA research plane rolls down the runway and prepares for takeoff, its wings vibrate with the gust of wind. It’s a flight day for one of NASA’s most expansive and complex field campaigns. The goal: to check the data collected from …
UPDATE AS OF DEC. 13, 2024 Shortly after 11:30 p.m. EST, Thursday Dec. 12, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft resumed communications with Earth following the short, planned communication blackout that occurred in the hours around closest approach during its second Earth gravity assist. NASA’s CARA (Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis) operators determined that no spacecraft maneuvers were necessary …
NASA and SpaceX are targeting late February 2025 for the launch of NASA’s PUNCH mission (Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
NASA and SpaceX are targeting late February 2025 for the launch of the agency’s next astrophysics observatory, SPHEREx. Short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, SPHEREx will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. About the size of a subcompact …
The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 4:06 a.m. ET on Sunday, Dec. 8. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Solar Ultraviolet Imager, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation …
Some data from NASA’s SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) and IRIS (Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) missions is temporarily unavailable because of flooding in the building that houses the missions’ data center at Stanford University. Both spacecraft remain healthy and are otherwise operating normally. On Tuesday, Nov. 26, a broken pipe caused major flooding in the …
NASA’s Voyager 1 has resumed regular operations 1 following a pause in communication last month.
An instrument that will collect and analyze ions — charged particles — has been integrated into NASA’s IMAP (Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe) at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland.